Apparatus for use in making music-sheets for player-pianos.



S. L. DICKINSON.

APPARATUS FOR USE IN MAKING MUSIC SHEETS FOR PLAYER PIANOS.

APPLICATION FILED ABBA, 1913. 1, 126,725. Patented Feb. 2, 1915.

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TH E NORRIS SAMUEL L. DICKINSON, OF CRANFOBD, NEW JERSEY.

APPARATUS FOR USE IN MAKING MUSIC-SHEETS FOR PLAYER-PIANOS.

Original application filed January 13, 1912, Serial No. 671,011.

T0 (ZZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL L. DICKINSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cranford, in the county of Union and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Use in Making Music-Sheets for Player- Pianos, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to apparatus for use in making music-sheets such as are employed in operating player-pianos. The invention is directed to the provision of apparatus for making music-sheets which are cut or marked so as to indicate the varying degrees of strength with which the various notes of the selection recorded on the sheet, were sounded.

This application is a. division of an application filed by me January 1", 1912 and serially numbered 671,011.

Apparatus has heretofore been employed for making music-sheets for player-pianos, so constructed that openings will be cut in the sheet corresponding exactly in relative arrangement and in length to the keys struck by a performer in rendering a selection and the duration of intervals during which those keys were held depressed. Such apparatus, however, does not differentiate with respect to the varying degrees of strength with which the various notes of the selection were sounded. The faithfulness of reproductions on player-pianos has been far inferior to that desired because of the fact that the varying degrees of strength with which the notes were sounded when the performer was rendering the selection, were not obtained when rendering the selection mechanically.

In order to eliminate this objectionable characteristic of mechanical reproductions of musical selections, and to provide means whereby more faithful reproductions may be obtained, a record may be made of the strength with which the hammers of the piano strike the strings thereof when the piano is operated manually. This record may be in the form of a cylinder having the varying degrees of strength of sounding the various notes recorded thereon by means of indentations of varying depth. Thus, a cylinder having a waxy coatin may be employed and the piano may be provided with a plurality of recorders each operated by a Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 2, 1915.

Divided and this application filed April 1,

Serial No. 758,102.

hammer when the latter engages its string and each adapted when so operated to engage and indent the surface of the record cylinder. The cylinder would be rotated continuously while the piano was being operated and it might also be arranged to move axially when so rotated in order that the record indentations of a single note would form several helically-arranged convolutions upon the surface of the record cylinder.

The present invention involves apparatus to be used in connection with such a record so that the indications recorded upon the record may be utilized in making the musicsheet. When employed in connection with cylindrical records having the indications thereon in the form of indentations of varying depths, a plurality of indices are employed, one for each recorder of the piano, that is, one for each spiral line of indentations upon the record cylinder and each of these indices is adapted to be actuated by the indentations in the spiral line upon the record cylinder corresponding thereto. The extent of actuation of each index will of course correspond with the depth of the indentations in the record cylinder. in this way the several indices will move to correspond with the strength with which the several notes of the selection were sounded when the piano was played manually. In combination with these indices and the cylinder with which they coact, means are provided for supporting and guiding the musicsheet having openings cut therein corre sponding in length and position to the notes of the selection and the several parts of the apparatus are so arranged that each opening in the music sheet will move to a prescribed position when the corresponding indentation in the record cylinder actuates its coacting index, as a result of which the operator can read at once the index of the strength of the note represented by the opening in the music-sheet which is then at the reading point and the operator can make such mark or cut in the music-sheet as is necessary in order to produce music-sheets which will permit of reproducing selections with the variations in the strength with which the several notes are sounded required to make the reproductions more faithful.

The preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which Figure l is a sectional elevation of my improved apparatus, Fig. 2 is a front view of a portion thereof and Fig. 3 is a detall View of the end of the record cylinder.

Referring to these drawings, a record is shown at f in the form of a cylinder having on the surface thereof a coating of a waxy substance which can be indented by suitable recorders preferably provided with tapered ends. This record is made by mounting it in a piano and moving it both rotationally and axially while the piano is being operated, the piano being provided with a plurality of recorders, each actuated by a hammer when the latter is moved to strike a string. \Vith the use of such a mechanism, the cylinder will have in its surface a multiplicity of indentations, all of the indentations corresponding to one note being arranged in a helically disposed line upon the surface of the cylinder, and the indentations will be of varying depth, because of the varying degrees of strength with which the recorders we e actuated by the hammers.

In using such a record cylinder when preparing music-sheets, the cylinder is mounted for rotation in bearings carried by a suitable frame 5 and is arranged to move both rotationally and axially. In the present instance the shaft 6 of the record is shown as provided with a sprocket wheel that is adapted to receive a chain 7 which chain runs upon a sprocket pinion 8 mounted on a shaft carrying an operating handle 9. The shaft of the record cylinder at is also provided with a spiral thread as shown at 10 in Fig. 3, with which thread a stationary abutment 11 coacts. The pitch of the thread 10 is the same as that of the spiral lines of indentations upon the record cylinder 4. By reason of this arrangement the cylinder will be moved axially while it is being ro tated by handle 9. This axial movement will be the same relatively to the rotational movement as that which took place at the time of making the record. A plurality of indices or indicators 12 are pivotally mounted upon the frame 5 and arranged to coact with the several lines of indentations in the record. For this purpose each index 12 is pivotally mounted at one end and has a rod 13 pivotally connected thereto the end of which is adapted to ride upon the surface of the record 4 and drop into the indentas tions therein. It is to be understood, of course, that there is one index 12 and rod 13 for each line of indentations in the record. The opposite ends of the indices 12 are adapted to move in close proximity to a scale plate 14. In the present instance this scale-plate is shown as made of transparent material so that the ends of the indices will be visible through the scale-plate as shown in Fig. 2. The scale-plate may be marked off into a plurality of major divisions of sound gradations and each of these major divisions may be further subdivided to any extent desired.

The frame supporting the cylinder 4 is also arranged to support the music-sheet. The shaft to which the handle 9 is secured carries a roller upon which the music-sheet is mounted, as shown at 15, and a roller 16 is mounted upon the frame 5 from which the music-sheet is unwound. Between these two rollers is a roll 17 over which the sheet passes-and adjacent to this roll is a guide or plate 18. As the handle 9 is turned to turn the cylinder a, it will wind the musicsheet upon the take-up roll shown at 15. As shown in Fig. 2 the bar 18 extends all across the front of the machine. The upper edge of this plate or bar constitutes the reading line where the openings in the music-sheet are noted. The bar 18 may, if desired, be provided with suitable index letters, as shown.

The apparatus is so constructed and the record and sheet are so adjusted that as any rod 13 drops into an indentation in the record 4 corresponding to a particular note in the selection, the opening in the music-sheet which corresponds with that note will come to the edge of the plate 18 adjacent to the roll 17. The operator can then read the indication of the index 12 actuated by the indentation in the record f on the scale-plate 1% and having done so, he notes on the record-sheet in any suitable manner, as by a mark on the sheet or a suitable opening through the sheet, the strength with which the particular note was sounded. In this way the music-sheet can be made complete as to the succession in which the keys were struck and the length of time during which each key was held depressed and the force with which each note was sounded as a result of the striking of the key. With such a record, it is possible to obtain a mechanical reproduction, of a selection which follows the manual rendition of that selection much more faithfully than has been possible when following the methods heretofore commonly employed.

The devices and the method of procedure above described may be varied in many respects without departing from the spirit of my invention and all such modifications I consider within the scope of the invention and I aim to cover them by the terms of the claims appended hereto.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new therein and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. The combination of a support, means for mounting thereon a record having a plurality of series of indentations therein, means for mounting thereon a music-sheet having openings therein corresponding in position to the keys of a musical instrument operated in rendering a selection, means for simultaneously moving the record and the music-sheet, a plurality of indicators one for each of said series of indentations and each having a part adapted to ride on the surface of the record and enter the indentations of one series, and a scale-plate with which each indicator cooperates, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination of means for supporting a record of the relative strength with which notes of a musical selection were sounded, a plurality of independently movable indicators co-acting with said record, means for supporting a music-sheet having openings therein corresponding in relative arrangement to the keys of a keyboard musical instrument operated in rendering the selection, and means for moving the record and the music-sheet in unison, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination of means for supporting a member having therein records of the varying degrees of strength with which the notes of a musical selection were sounded, a plurality of independently movable indicators coacting with said records, means for supporting a music-sheet having openings therein corresponding in relative arrangement to the keys of a keyboard musical instrument operated in rendering the selection and means for moving said member and said music-sheet in unison, substantially as set forth.

i. The combination of means for supporting a record of the relative strength with which the notes of a musical selection were struck, a plurality of independently movable visual indicators coacting with said record, means for supporting a music-sheet having openings therein corresponding in relative arrangement to the keys of a keyboard musical instrument operated in rendering the selection, a member mounted adjacent to the music-sheet and means for simultaneously moving the music-sheet and said record so that an opening in the music-sheet comes opposite said member when the point on the record corresponding to that opening moves into coaction with the said device coacting therewith, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination of a support, a cylinder thereon having in its periphery a plurality of series of indentations representing a musical selection, the indentations of each series being arranged in a spiral line, a plurality of indicators one corresponding to each series of indentations and each having a part adapted to ride upon the surface of the cylinder, a scale-plate with which said indicators coact, means for supporting a music-sheet having openings therein representing the same musical selection as said indentations, a member arranged adjacent to the music-sheet and means for simultaneously moving the music-sheet past said member and rotating said cylinder so that an opening in the music-sheet comes adjacent to said member when a predetermined indentation in the cylinder moves into coaction with the indicator corresponding thereto, substantially as set'forth.

This specification signed and witnessed this 27th day of March, 1913.

SAMUEL L. DICKINSON. lVitnesses:

THOS. OREILLY, JOSEPH W. DICKINSON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patent Washington, D. C. 

